Why Did Sylvie Kill Kang at the End of Season 1 of ‘Loki’?

The first episode of ‘Loki’ Season 2 was released, and it’s been nothing short of chaotic. The Multiverse is fracturing. The Temporal Loom is going out of order and overloading with power, and Loki is time slipping. The timeline is a mess, and the only person who was able to keep it in check, He Who Remains, is dead, killed by Sylvie Laufeydottir. Judging by the last scene in ‘Loki’ Season 1, Sylvie had no idea what the consequences of her actions would be. So why did she kill He Who Remains in the first place?

Sylvie is Loki but grew up in different circumstances 

Now, looking at Sylvie and Loki, they are supposed to be variants of each other (the two can’t seem to agree on who is the actual variant). Still, they are very different in terms of their personality and goals, and it all comes down to their upbringing. 

Sylvie was born as Loki, the princess of Asgard, much like the Loki we know and love, but with one major difference: she learned early that she was adopted and was seemingly fine with it. Much of Loki’s frustration stemmed from the fact that he thought Odin had used him merely to be a means to an end and to blackmail Frost Giants into maintaining the peace. This wasn’t the case with Sylvie. So, she had a relatively happy childhood. 

What was Sylvie’s Nexus Event? 

Sylvie’s real Nexus Event was never revealed. It’s only known that she was arrested suddenly as a child while playing with some dolls. The Time Door appeared, and Hunters spawned from within it, attempting to arrest Sylvie for a crime she wasn’t even aware she committed. 

Apparently, Sylvie caused the so-called Nexus Event in her timeline, which caused the Sacred Timeline to branch off and give rise to evil Kang Variants. It’s quite possible that Sylvie’s arrest itself was the Nexus Event, but TVA was too short-sighted to see it, or they were unable to see it because the fact that she was arrested alone caused the death of He Who Remains and the resurgence of evil variants. 

Anyway, Sylvie was arrested and brought to the TVA, but before she could be pruned, she managed to use the moment of distraction to attack Ravona and escape with a stolen TemPad. That TemPad will prove vital in her survival over the following years.

Sylvie was basically a timeline terrorist since she was trying to undermine TVA at every turn 

Sylvie was quite clever for a child, and she learned that merely hiding from the TVA wasn’t enough, and the fact that she still existed caused a Nexus Event whenever she went. She was misplaced in the timeline, and her actions led to numerous timelines being pruned and countless lives being lost. 

Sylvie, instead of looking at the situation objectively, blamed TVA for everything and sought reasons for why the organization exists in the first place. Her fears and doubts were somewhat justified when she learned the Hunters themselves were none other than Variants from different branched timelines. Witnessing the cruelty of the TVA and learning of its shady background and origin, Slyvie took it upon herself to stop them, to get to the root of the problem and destroy it. 

Sylvie thought that by destroying the TVA, she would stop mass brainwashing and mass genocide of entire timelines, and she would be able to put things right. 

Later, when she met Loki, Loki commented that she couldn’t create such a power vacuum and simply not fill it. Sylvie didn’t care about the power. She never wanted to lead the TVA. She wanted to expose the whole organization and its evil deeds. All the while, she didn’t have a single clue what the TVA was truly about and who was leading it. 

She was reckless and impulsive, the qualities that she shares with Loki, but she wasn’t exactly as power-hungry as he was. She also relied on combat more than Loki, but she did mention that they are not the same, despite technically both being the same person from different timelines. 

Sylvie killing He Who Remains only made things worse 

When Sylvie and Loki figured that Alioth was not behind the TVA and that there was something greater than the temporal monster itself, Sylvie was eager to jump on the opportunity to get her vengeance. But the fact that she didn’t exactly have a plan on what to do after slowly began manifesting. First, Loki and Sylvie finally found out what the purpose of Sacred Timeline is and what the purpose of pruning and all those nasty side effects is. Without the Sacred Timeline, there are no organized timelines, and the Multiverse is basically chaos. 

The Sacred Timeline ensures that He Who Remains wins the Multiversal War and that no evil variants of himself come into existence. Despite learning the truth, Sylvie’s resolve didn’t falter. He Who Remains tries to bribe both Sylvie and Loki by dangling everything they ever wanted in front of them, but he misses the point of what Sylvie wants and offers her to relive her favorite memories. 

Sylvie wouldn’t go for it, and after pushing Loki through Time Door, she stabbed He Who Remains. Afterward, without purpose and a clear goal ahead, Sylvie collapsed to the floor, realizing that she probably started a sequence of events much worse than what TVA did to her timeline. 

And this is where we are today. We’ve only seen a glimpse of Sylvie in Episode 1 of Season 2, when she appeared in the Elevator in one mysterious scene, seemingly saving Loki. She possibly hails from the future and has a better grip on how to sort out this mess. Hopefully, in the next few episodes, we’re going to gain a better understanding of what Sylvie did after killing Kang and causing his evil variants to resurface.

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